A couple years back I stumbled across a video on YouTube that purported to show all sorts of ghostly activity. I have always been interested in that kind of thing, and was disappointed that the video was a compilation of crap and fake stuff. I felt a bit redeemed, however, because over the course of searching for something really good, I stumbled upon the Syfy show Ghost Hunters, which is a hoot and a half, and offers the occasional moment where you have to go, "Hmm".
For the most part, I think the vast majority of claims of "hauntings" and what not are hooey. Yet, having experienced a thing or two myself, I have a mind that is open to the possibility that there is something to the claims of interaction between our physical environment and energies that can be called, for lack of a better word, spiritual. I would like to know - have you ever had an experience that left you baffled, maybe even a little frightened? No aspersion are to be cast on the character of the person posting; this is a request for reporting information, not an excuse to talk about how silly "ghost stories" are.
9 comments:
I've wondered about something for a while now and am inspired by your post to ask, when a person is baffled and a little bit frightened why do they assume the cause is the supernatural? No insult to you intended of course, but I've seen other people make similar assumptions. The planet Venus in autumn shines very, very brightly in the night sky. On a couple of occasions I've been with people who have seen it and unknowingly point it out as a UFO. What is there about the human mind that skips the rational and simpler explanation for unexplained phenomenon and assumes the other worldly?
How is it "irrational" to make the observation that an event without an obvious explanation might have one that is different from an accepted explanation? How is the brightness of Venus a "simpler" explanation than the declaration that one might be witnessing a UFO, which initials only mean Unidentified Flying Object? How is it easier to grasp light refraction and the magnification of a perceived object through the atmosphere than to say, "Wow! I don't know what that thing in the sky is. Could it be, you know, unidentified?"
The assumption behind the question begs far more questions. You process under the view that your understanding of the Universe is "correct" and therefore those who disagree are not just in error, but by your very definition and understanding, "irrational". They might just be using a different rationality than yours, coming to a different conclusion based on a different set of assumptions.
While this doesn't fit what I wanted - a ghost story or two - I'll leave it up anyway.
I would add that I find the word "supernatural" unintelligible in any context. Anything so defined is, by a strict understanding of the word, impossible to experience. Something "above" nature would be beyond our ability to see, hear, smell, or experience in any way whatsoever.
It might just be that we don't understand "nature" as fully as we believe. An event such as, for example, the sound of bootfalls on a wood floor - when there are no persons present, therefore no boots, let alone a wood floor upon which to walk - is not so much "supernatural" as it is "paranormal". This event, by the way, is available for anyone to view. The Ghost Hunters investigated the ruins of Lisheen Manor in Ireland, and while two of them were in the basement of the ruins, clearly audible above them is the sound of boots walking on a wood floor. You can even hear the distinct fall of heel/toe, heel/toe. Except, of course, no one is up there, and there is no wood left.
One can dismiss this in any number of ways, of course, up to and including the producers and participants involved in a massive conspiracy to hornswoggle gullible viewers. Or, one could make the far more simple assumption that something not quite in the realm of normal experience is occurring, yet perfectly natural for all that.
We have long been ... well, convinced is way too strong of a word ... that there is a third cat inhabiting our house who does not reside on this particular plane of existence. Seriously. We've both seen him/her at one point or another, usually at the bottom of the stairs. (Why should ghosts always be human, after all? Are there rules about these sorts of things?)
While there are any number of completely reasonable possible explanations for thinking we see a cat (we do have two live cats, after all, but we see this one even when both of the cats are upstairs on the bed.) But frankly I rather like the notion of ghost cat stalking ghost mice.
Yet, having experienced a thing or two myself, I have a mind that is open to the possibility that there is something to the claims of interaction between our physical environment and energies that can be called, for lack of a better word, spiritual
Well, hold on, we want to hear YOURS first!
My only such stories are all incidents where I have scared myself, nothing unexplainable. Sorry.
But, like you, I AM interested.
One of the novels that I'd like to write eventually is a story in which ghosts are determined to be real and what the consequences of that are...
Alan - your cat may not be so much a "ghost cat" as just another cat that is teleporting. We used to joke about how our cats were just . . . not there . . . one moment, then, quite suddenly . . . there! It happened frequently! Of course, a ghost cat would be cool, too. Adding that it also wouldn't be a surprise.
Dan - I have written about them before, and I was going to include the links, but I was running short of time. I should have time to get them before tonight's over, but be patient.
I think that novel's been written, but I'm not sure. Doesn't mean you can't do so, too. It is an intriguing idea, part of the plot-device behind the movie Beetlejuice, which I still enjoy.
Just like other things that might be ridiculed as supernatural, I may not believe in ghosts, but I don't rule them out. Except, I tend to believe in ghosts more simply because I have had one or two incidents in my life where I was left puzzling over what I'd just seen/experienced.
Here's one incident. My college roommate and I lived in an old house. One evening, we were sitting in the living room, both facing the television. Beyond the t.v. was my bedroom which had these beautiful french doors.
My roommate went pale and pointed toward the bedroom. Standing there was the faintest outline of a man with a beard. "Do you see that?" she asked. "Yes," I replied. There was much screaming as we raced out of the house. We left without keys or purses and walked to a friend's house and spent the night. The next day, we had to go back (it was a Saturday) because I had to get dressed for work. We were totally creeped out, but tried to convince ourselves that we must have shared a hallucination.
We never saw "him" again, but one night my then boyfriend went into my bedroom closet to use the pencil sharpener and the door closed behind him and he couldn't make the knob move. He was stuck in there for about 10 minutes until I came back from running out to pick up a pizza.
We were both trying to get him out - I was pulling on the door and he was shoving, and then I finally stepped back and he quit shoving and then the door just swung open, I wondered if he'd pulled a goof on me, but I don't think he had because I hadn't told him about the "hallucination."
There is much that we can't explain. I like that frankly.
Lisa - first, may I just say that for a young woman to leave without her purse tells me you must have been scared.
I had an unrepeated event at my parents' house when I was in HS, a house, I would add in which I have spent many a night alone - without ever once feeling creeped out, scared, hearing any noises or anything else. These events not only were frightening, they woke my father up, which was difficult to say the least.
My oldest sister's house has the sound of footsteps and once I saw who I thought was my mother, only there was no one there after investigating. Not scary, just interesting.
I find these kinds of things interesting, and other's stories about them fascinating.
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